From Seal Team Six to Delta Force, Master Sergeant Kevin Holland is the only publicly known operative to have served in both units over his noteworthy 20-year military career. Humble, engaging, and sincere, Holland’s combat stories, life-changing missions, and purpose-driven lessons mesmerize – including how the camouflaged Holland was part of a small team that captured Saddam Hussein.

Holland entered the U.S. Navy in 1988 and has never looked back. He volunteered for Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training, which started with a BUD/S class of 80 people, ultimately graduating only 8. This entire class was assigned to SEAL Team Eight.

When Desert Storm began, Holland was on his first deployment. In 1990, his team was assigned to Northern Iraq to conduct deep reconnaissance and sniper missions. Upon completion of the deployment, Holland was awarded the Navy Achievement Medal. After successfully completing sniper missions without training, Holland was subsequently sent to Sniper School. Identified as being in the top 1% of Navy SEALs, Holland was asked to interview for the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, which served as the Navy’s counter-terrorism unit (also known as SEAL Team Six).

Holland separated from the Navy in 1995, returning to his family, his rural beginning, and also discovering his faith. Holland began working as a wildlife forester in his local county and taught survival and land navigation to platoons of SEALs and classes of civilians to supplement his income.

Hearing the call to serve after 9/11, Holland re-enlisted. He was assigned to the US Army Special Operations Command from 2002 to 2013. He completed the 8-month Special Forces Qualification Course (Q Course) in 2005 and earned his Special Forces Tab and Green Beret. He deployed twenty times to the Middle East, conducting over 2000 combat missions. He was wounded by shrapnel in 2004 when an IED exploded behind his vehicle, killing one of the members of his team.

Then in March 2011, while on a mission in the Middle East, Holland was hit multiple times by a foreign fighter firing a belt-fed PKM Machine gun from just 20 yards away. Holland has received more than 30 awards, including seven Bronze Stars (with two awarded for valor in combat) along with two Purple Hearts.

He lives with his wife, stepdaughters, and his younger son in the foothills of North Carolina, not far from where he grew up. His oldest son Connor carries on Holland’s military legacy as a member of the U.S. Army Special Operations.